Many, many, times I wish it was a simple as saying
" gee Honey that sucks "
(acknowledging her problem)
"here is how I'd fix it"

Grunt grunt, hammer, hammer - why isn't that enough?

Why doesn't that work and get me the gold star?

I dunno either - in a lot of ways it seems like it should. Tho if I come home and tell Dan about something yucky that happened either at work or on the Beltway, he'll give me "gee Honey that sux," then, "you wanna talk about solutions or are you just venting?" I don't always need him to fix my problems, sometimes I just want to know he sees my world the way I do. Does that help?

Help? Yes/No. Knew that, get the same from Mary.
Yes, nice to know it's not just me.
No, I have a hard time not leaping in with
a) My problems which are of course much larger than her's
b) solutions first, then ask "are you venting "

22 years of Navy, I fix problems. Amazing she puts up with me isn't it.

Well, I guess its hard not to argue when you know you are right. But most of the arguments I have turn out to seem pretty silly the next day. I am usually better off just waiting until later if I can manage to do that. On the other hand, my wife is usually pretty easy going. Now my ex-wife ...........

One of the hard things in dealing with other people, is that when, you show understanding and interest, it raises the level of vulnerablity. But, aside from that, it also raises the level of effort to respond in a like manner.

Are there any harder words to say than, "I was wrong"? Not, asking to be forgiven, but simply admitting being wrong. Conversely, is there much that is harder to not say than, "I told you so"?

Life, love .... living, is about meeting halfway, and discovering a mutual answer to a problem. Not about who's right, or who's wrong.

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